The leaders of Muslim community and religious organizations signed a joint document on December 11, 2017 - The Social Concept of Muslims in Ukraine. At a solemn meeting, representatives of Islamic organizations spoke about the history of this document.

The ruins of the old church in the district center of Rozhische in Volyn have become the subject of controversy between the Protestants and the Orthodox. The temple was built in the nineteenth century by the Baptists, “the Soviets” expropriated and placed manufacturing plants in the church.

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Expert thought

… the Moscow Patriarchate is busy both in Ukraine and the outside world agitating against such a grant of autocephaly to the UOC-KP and the UAOC, which it regards as schismatic. But its ability to influence world Orthodoxy is limited…

Religious Studies

The history evidences: the Local Churches that were historically associated with earthly empires were uninterested in the canonical establishment of local churches under their jurisdictions, and therefore usually granted autocephaly to churches only under the pressure of historic circumstances. No exception is the Moscow Patriarchate, which has incorporated the Orthodox Church in Ukraine since 1686.

Ukrainian Orthodoxy and Ukrainian society suffer from division. The majority of Ukrainian Orthodox believers belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. The rest of the Orthodox community of Ukraine has chosen a different path of self-proclaimed autocephaly. However, neither the first nor the second path is optimal for the Orthodox Church in Ukraine to date.

Metropolitan Dymytriy of the UOC-KP: we need approval of our Mother Church, the “stepmother” is to simply put up with that

Metropolitan Dymytriy (Rudyuk) of the UOC-KP evaluates positively the prospect of the process of church unification in Ukraine and stresses that it will bring fruit. He said this in an interview with Gal Info.

“For thousands of years we have been waiting for this ... the process of unification is inevitable, even if the hierarchs of the Moscow Patriarchate would not support it. The unification into the One Local Ukrainian Orthodox Church will start from grassroots. We have to believe it in this,” said Metropolitan Dymytriy (Rudyuk) of Lviv.

According to him, the Moscow Patriarchate did not take any actual steps for the past 26 years to heal the wound of separation inside Ukrainian Orthodoxy, in addition to statements and intentions, nothing was done. Metropolitan recalled that there were only certain glimpses from the UOC-MP in this matter, but they came from some particular people, particular persons such as the head of the UOC-MP, Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan), but he departed to the Lord.

“So, the beginning of the process of attaining autocephaly by the Ukrainian Church is the process of healing the wounds of separation. What should the true Church do? Rejoice! Rejoice at the fact that these people, who, in their opinion, have seceded from the Church, return to the canonical status recognized by the Ecumenical Orthodoxy. But I do not see this joy. I do not see the simple evangelical love of Christ for us on the part of the so-called canonical believers. Christ was happy with a lonely lamb, and they were ready to leave it astray in the brushwood between branches and weeds. At least recently, their position is very clear about this. Therefore, their consent to recognition or not recognition ... Do you think we need it? We need the consent of our Mother Church, the stepmother simply has to accept this. I am inviting the leaders of the UOC-MP and its speakers to go out to the media and say: “We are glad that the brothers from the UOC-KP and the UAOC will eventually attain their eternal aspirations - obtain autocephaly,” summed up the Metropolitan.